Verizon phones, especially exclusives like those sold under the DROID brand, don't have a very good reputation for quick updates. The most notable offender of this, the DROID Turbo, took until December of 2016 just to get an official Android 6.0 Marshmallow update. However, the Turbo 2's Nougat update is here, and thankfully, it didn't take nearly as long.

So here's a pretty crazy deal. Best Buy is selling the Verizon-branded DROID Turbo 2, the Motorola flagship from late 2015, for $312. That's a pretty good deal on its own, even if it comes with a bit of a bummer that it's only available on an installment plan ($12.99 for 24 months). But what's particularly nutty is that Best Buy is throwing in a $200 gift card to the store with each one. That brings the effective price for the phone down to just $112. For a brand new version of a model that's coming up on a year and a half from release, that's hard to beat.

The Verizon-exclusive Droid Turbo 2 was released almost a year ago, and promptly made headlines with claims of a shatterproof screen. Verizon and Motrola have at least made an effort to keep the device updated, compared to other devices on Big Red, and it even received Android 6.0 Marshmallow earlier this year. Now owners of the Turbo 2 can finally use WiFi calling, courtesy of a software update.

An update, titled '24.31.22.kinzie_verizon.verizon.en.US,' is being pushed to all Droid Turbo 2 devices with the "Latest Android™ security updates and bug fixes," as well as full WiFi calling support.

Sometimes you have to wait a long time to get the announcement that the latest version of Android is coming to a device that you own. That period of time can be agonizing, especially when you have your eyes set on a particular feature.

The experience is only made worse when the announcement doesn't bring an update any closer.

Verizon's Droid phones have traditionally been slow on updates, which isn't surprising for Verizon. Still, you have to wonder what's up when the hardware is sometimes very similar to the current gen Moto X. At any rate, Verizon has finally started rolling out Marshmallow to the Droid Turbo 2 (a few months after the Moto X Pure). That means lots of new features to play with.

Since the DROID series remains a Verizon exclusive more than six years after the original QWERTY model hit shelves, the DROID Turbo 2 is Verizon's de facto flagship phone, in so much as no one else can use it. So those customers who have spent their money on the modified version of the Moto X will be glad to know that a Marshmallow update is fast approaching. For a lucky few, it's available now: the "soak test," a closed alpha for Motorola firmware, has begun.

Motorola has uploaded kernel source files for the DROID Turbo 2 (Kinzie) to GitHub. Here developers and tinkerers alike can download the code and dive inside to get a look at what makes Android 6.0 work on the device.

General users won't benefit from downloading the files directly themselves. They may, however, gain something from developers who use this code to improve their apps. This access also increases the likelihood of seeing custom ROMs.

In short, if you don't know what these files are, they're of no use to you. But if you've been waiting to get your hands on them, have at the source link below.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, love is in the air. Or is that a mix of rampant consumerism and hormones? Oh well, same thing pretty much. You can celebrate the special day with a pair of phones from Motorola/Verizon and get half off of one of them. If that's not romance, I don't know what is.

Verizon is already licensing the DROID name from Disney/Lucasfilm, so might as well go all out with the new film coming in exactly a week, right? Starting today, you can get a special edition Star Wars DROID Turbo 2 at no extra cost. Verizon offers customization options for the DROID Turbo 2 this year via the Moto Maker shop, and that's how the "special edition" phones are handled.

When Marshmallow was first released, Motorola released a list of devices that it deemed Marshmallow-worthy. Noticeably absent from that list was the Moto E 2015 (2nd gen), despite the company promising timely updates in its marketing of the device 219 days earlier. That caused a legitimate online uproar from Moto E users who weren't expecting to be left behind so abruptly and cold-bloodedly. So what's the company to do to silence the cries of scorned loyal users? Do an about-face and fix the issue, that's what. Except it still didn't manage to fully solve the problem for everyone.

Motorola has sneakily updated the list of devices to receive Marshmallow on its site and added 4 new devices: